Breeding and Egg Laying: Arm Waving Female

Breeding and Egg Laying
Provided for educational purposes - Click on photo to enlarge and get more information
Welcome to our new webpage where we would like to share a step-by-step visual experience involving the stages of breeding bearded dragons. There are many new owners of bearded dragons that are becoming more and more interested in seeing and learning about the process the dragons go through for reproduction. We will give a short explaination beneath each photo which you will have to click on to enlarge in order to obtain information pertaining to the picture being discussed. We hope this will be of great interest to our customers and visitors to our website.

Arm Waving Female

During the breeding process the males are extremely aggressive towards the females. One of the behaviors that a female will exhibit towards a male is arm waving. This is a submissive act towards the male. You can see this female is arm waving. Photo courtesy of Rachael at Zen Dragonz.

Male Dominate Behavior During Breeding

One of the first signs of a male that is interested in breeding a female is his beard and chest area will turn a dark black and he will begin head-bobbing. Sometimes the head-bobbing will become so strong the male will actually be bouncing off the ground slapping his front feet on the ground. He will then let the female know he is going to attempt to breed her by "pecking" at her around the neck and the face. When a male attempts to breed a female he will grab her by the back of the head where there is a tough area of skin to hold on to at the base of the neck. This can be a violent act and can be considered "rape behavior" as the male will thrash about holding on to the female. The female gets handled very roughly so don't be surprised when you see a pair breeding. He will attempt to gain control and position the female so that he can breed her. He uses this method of holding the female down so he can get her into position. He will use his back feet and his tail to get the female to lift her tail in a way that he can insert his hemipenes to copulate. Photo courtesy of Rachael at Zen Dragonz. "The male, Kovu, was one of our babies."

Copulation
Here is copulation caught in full action. The male has the female in the ideal position to control her during copulation. You can see how the male was able to manipulate the female into position where he has full control and can insert his hemipenes into the cloaca for breeding. The male uses his back legs and his tail as a support to get the female's tail lifted and turned in a position that will allow him to insert his hemipenes. Photo courtesy of Rachael at Zen Dragonz. "The male, Kovu, was one of our babies."

Gravid Female Getting Her Laying Den Ready

This is our female Charmin. She is in the process of selecting her den location where she will burrow to lay her eggs and then bury them.

Charmin in the Laying Bin

This is a close up picture of Charmin in her laying bin where she will burrow a den to lay her eggs. The laying bin substrate consists of 2/3 virgin potting soil which DOES NOT have any additives or fertilizers in it and 1/3 play sand. It is mixed well then warm water is added to moisten the soil but not make the soil soggy or sloppy muddy. Just moist enough to have a handful of dirt and when it is squeezed into a ball in your hand it stays firm but not runny. The laying bin substrate should remain moist and warm. We place a basking light over the bin for the female while she is waiting to burrow. This can cause the dirt to dry out so from time to time additional warm water is added, the dirt stirred up and packed down. The soil in the laying bin should remain close to 85 degrees. Dragons like to lay in warm moist soil as this best mimics mother nature's conditions in the wild.

Den Digging
This is Charmin digging her den. Females can burrow for hours until they have their den just to their likeing. Some will just dig a shallow sunken hole in the corner to lay while others will dig tunnels deep down and as far back as far as they can. Charmin likes to dig deep long tunnels. This is her in the beginning stages of burrowing.

Egg Laying
Here Charmin is backed into her den and is laying her eggs. Notice how thin she appears on her sides now that egg laying has begun. You can compare this picture to the one before she laid and see how plump she was before egg laying. She layed a clutch of 23 eggs.

Egg Laying
Here is a female laying her eggs in the hole/den that she dug. Once she is finished laying her
eggs she will carefully cover the eggs and pack the dirt over the spot where she has laid. Once she is finished you won't even be able to tell that the dirt had ever been disturbed. Photo courtesy of Rachael at Zen Dragonz.

Eggs in Laying Bin

Here you can see through a "window" in the side of the Sterilte bin where a clutch of eggs has been layed. Once layed the female will pack the dirt back into the tunnel and over the den so you can't even tell the dirt was ever disturbed. After the female is finished covering the eggs she is removed, given a bath and the eggs are carefully excavated.

Eggs Ready for the Incubator

Here you see a clutch of eggs that have been placed in deli cups and ready to go into the incubator. The deli cups we use have pre-punched holes in the sides. We cover all of the holes with clear tape except one. We leave one hole open for air and gas exchanges that are necessary for the development of the eggs during incubation. You can use vermiculite or perilite as a substrate. We now use perilite which you can buy at a garden store or large retail store like WalMart. Just be sure it DOES NOT have any fertilizer additives. Place perilite or vermiculite into deli cup shallow just below the area of the holes. Moisten but do not make soggy where water will drain if tipped sideways. Then using the end of your finger gently make a deepened indention into the substrate. This is where you will place the egg. You want the egg to be buried down in the substrate but not sitting on the bottom of the deli cup. You want the egg to be partially buried with just the top of the egg exposed. We incubate the eggs at a constant 84.4 degrees in a professional grade incubator and hatching usually occurs within 65-72 days. A hobbyist breeder can use a Hovabator incubator to hatch out eggs. Because Hovabators will flucuate in temperature based on the room temperature changes it is best to set the temperature to stay between 82-84 degrees so as not to "overcook" the eggs which can cause death to the developing embryo. Incubating the eggs at this slightly lower temperature will not harm the eggs as it is considered within normal range. The gestation period for the eggs to hatch may go a little longer than the 65-72 days. Hatching may occur anywhere between 70-78 days.

Eggs Hatching
Here you see some little heads beginning to come out of the shell. Bearded Dragon eggs are soft and leathery like turtle eggs and snake eggs. They are not firm and able to crack like a chicken egg. Baby dragons have an egg tooth they use to slit the egg before they can pop their heads out. Once the head is out they will lay there taking their time and work their way out slowly. During the time they are slowly working their way out of the egg their little bodies are absorbing all the nutrients left in the egg yolk that is still attached to their umbilical cord and can be seen right after hatching. The umbilical cord will slowly absorb and the belly button will close up. You can see a small slit in newly hatched dragons where the umbilical cord was attached to the egg.

Breeding and Egg Laying: Arm Waving Female

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